New owners to make Sunshine Coast holiday park their own

A Sunshine Coast holiday park has been snapped up for the second time in 30 years, as the strong demand for retirement living assets continues.

The family owned Lilyponds Holiday Park, at 26 Warruga St in Mapleton, sold after agents received 125 enquires and multiple offers.

Savills Sunshine Coast’s Peter Capps says a mix of buyers were vying for the elevated 2ha block – a testament to the sector’s popularity among investors.

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“A high percentage of the enquiries from outside of Queensland were looking for development opportunities in the aged care and retirement living space,” Capps says.

“The new owner occupiers will live in the manager’s residence onsite, as it features a well presented three-bedroom home and manager’s office.”

Lilyponds, which is located 10 minutes inland from the Bruce Highway, features 64 sites including 12 cabins, two toilet blocks, a camp kitchen, two BBQ areas and an in-ground swimming pool, along with a playground.

It is also only 20 minutes’ drive to the Sunshine Coast Airport and beaches.

Lilyponds occupies large piece of the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Savills director Mark Dann says many of the interested parties were keen to purchase holiday or caravan parks on the Sunshine Coast and were likely still actively perusing the market.

“Many of these parks represent a return on investment in excess of 10% of the net annual income, the previous owners have the park running like clockwork making it an easy transition,” Dann says.

The park backs on to a parkland and is a short stroll to cafes and the iconic Mapleton Tavern.

The sale comes as more Australians than ever are choosing to travel independently, using caravan parks.

This is mainly being driven by grey nomads, but the #vanlife trend is increasingly a driving force for younger generations opting for motorhome holidays.

Previous reports have identified  high demand for caravan park properties is in Queensland and New South Wales. However, Victoria and Tasmania are also seeing strong interest when the increasingly rare properties hit the market, some with price tags north of $3 million.